How to Teach Difficult Scriptures: Elisha and the She-Bears
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). If you’re like me, you read this verse with a hearty yes and amen! But do we realize how radical Paul’s words truly are? All Scripture includes…Genealogies? Temple blueprints? Song of Songs? Revelation? According to Paul, the answer is yes. It’s all from God and for our good use. But if we’re honest, there are some difficult passages in Scripture, ones that cannot always be neatly packaged and tied up in a bow. Even so, we need not hide from them in the comfort of ‘easier’ Scriptures; after all, every passage has something to teach us. As a case study, let’s turn to one of the strangest stories in the Old Testament.
Baldy-Locks and the She-Bears (2 Kings 2:23-25)
If it’s been a while since you’ve read this scene from the life of Elisha, no summary could set the stage better: “He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!’ And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.” (2 Kings 2:23-25) As is often the case when teaching from difficult passages, exploring the context can help us get our bearings. This passage in particular culminates the larger story of passing the baton from Elijah to Elisha in 2 Kings 2.
Last time Elisha was in this neck of the woods, it was his mentor and spiritual father Elijah’s big day: his retirement from being a prophet, the day when he would be taken up to God in a chariot of fire. That day, they had walked the opposite direction, out of Israel. Elijah had given him plenty of opportunities to stay behind, but Elisha was determined to stay with his mentor until the very last second. Now, Elijah was gone, and Elisha walked this path alone.
So much had happened since the last time he was here. He had seen God split the Jordan River through Elijah like Moses split the Red Sea. He had seen Elijah being whisked up into heaven without seeing death. He had split the Jordan River himself on his return trip. And he had just miraculously reversed the curse that was poisoning the water supply back in Jericho. Elisha was stepping into his calling: to bring healing to God’s people, who under Elijah had faced judgment.
Elisha now found himself back in Bethel, which wasn’t necessarily the safest neighborhood for a prophet of God to walk through alone. Bethel was home of the “Golden Calf 2.0”, an idol on the south side of Israel by the wicked king Jeroboam to keep people out of God’s Temple. Last time, no one bothered them along the way (probably because they knew not to mess with the one who could call down fire from the sky). But this time, Elisha faced some opposition in the form of 42 “small boys.” How old were the boys from Bethel, you might ask? It’s hard to say for sure, because the same words used here are used elsewhere in the Bible for everyone from infants to young adults. My best guess is that they were round middle/high school age, old enough to know what they were doing.
In any case, they start hurling insults at Elisha, attacking him with their words: “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” Only God knows the number of hairs Elisha had on his head, but what we do know is that Elisha didn’t have Elijah (known for being covered in hair), to save him (see 2 Kings 1:8). This wasn’t just a roast about his “chrome dome.” This is a challenge to Elisha’s calling. This is a challenge to the God who called Elisha. He’s like a substitute teacher, and the class isn’t giving Mr. Elisha the same respect they gave Mr. Elijah. By telling him to “go up”, they were telling him to leave their town alone, to not mess with their gods and their behavior.
In response, God protects Elisha like a mama-bear protecting her cub. Elisha didn’t run away. He didn’t fight. He called on the name of the God who will not be mocked, and trusted in God’s ability to vindicate His own name. How were the boys from Bethel punished for calling the prophet of God a baldy twice? By facing the fury of two furry mama-bears. Elisha spoke the words, but God brought the bears. And no Golden Calf ran to their rescue.
What 2 Kings 2:23-25 Can Teach Us Today
God Is Good, but He’s Not Safe: Like Aslan in C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, the God of Elisha is good, but not safe. Even the bears are at His command. This story challenges students to ask themselves if their own perception of God is big enough to fit passages like this one. God is not a nice grandpa sitting on a cloud, whose deepest desire is for everyone to be happy. He is a loving Father who nevertheless shows wrath against unrighteousness when necessary. He is the best of friends to those who trust Him, but the strongesg of enemies to those who don’t.
God Protects His Prophets: God may not speak to us through prophets since speaking to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), but both demonstrate His desire to communicate with us. By protecting Elisha, the new prophet on the block, God underscores the importance of his message and the seriousness with which He treats sin. Preaching from this passage provides an opportunity to teach students what the big deal is about God’s Word and those who deliver it. It can also provide an opportunity to talk about what it means for Jesus to be the ultimate prophet. Jesus, like Elisha, brought both tremendous healing (even making the transformation of water the source of His first miracle), and stern warnings of judgement on sin.
God Can Use Difficult Passages to Humble Us: The first time that I tried to preach from 2 Kings 2:23-25 in seminary, the Lord used the experience to humble me. I had grown overconfident in my own preaching ability, assuming that as long as I prayed for the Lord’s guidance, I could condense any passage into a witty phrase of twelve words or less. But God was not interested in me telling Him what to say. How easily we can forget who’s in charge! Preaching from stories like this one isn’t always easy, but even in our weakness, God can still speak through us as we teach from difficult texts. If all Scripture is God-breathed, then we should do our best to teach it all, allowing God to shape us, challenge us, and strengthen our confidence in what He can do. He is the God who will not be mocked. He is the God who fights for us. Because of these realities, we know we can trust Him to sustain us as we seek to obey the calling He has given us.